Marty Struve, 68, a representative for California Mobilehome Resource and Action Association, runs a Butte County advocacy group for low-income mobile home owners.

Struve said she has established contact with the State Department of Housing and Community Development, which inspects mobile home parks, to determine whether residents of Nichols Point have any legal recourse.

One of the organizers, Marty Struve of Paradise, said the idea is to create an association that can help residents deal with problems in their parks, such as large rent increases and disputes with managers and owners.

"We commend the good park owners," Struve said in a phone interview Friday."There are a lot of real good park owners."

But, unfortunately, she said, at some parks, residents face large rent increases, poor maintenance, a lack of response to complaints and, in some cases, even harassment by managers and owners.

Around 300 people attended a meeting in Paradise last month that Struve and others organized.

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Since then, Struve said, steps have been taken to form the Butte County Mobile Home Owners Association.She said she's heard from residents of 47 of the 92 mobile home parks in Butte County and that so far, about 35 people have paid the $10 yearly dues and become members of the new association.

At the meeting on the 30th, she said, interim officers will be elected and by-laws will be adopted so the association can register as a nonprofit corporation and establish

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a legal fund.

Last week, Struve said she spoke to about 100 people attending a residents' meeting at The Meadows, a mobile home park in Chico, where there have been complaints about steep rent increases.She said she's now serving in a volunteer position as Butte County representative for CMRAA.

For more information, she said, she can be reached at 872-2577; or P.O. Box 3993 Paradise, CA, 95967; or by e-mail at mcmraa@comcast.net.